UW Talks More About Flexible Options

The UW System is providing more details about its Flexible Options[1] degree program for nontraditional adult students, but people wanting to know the tuition cost will have to wait.

The UW unveiled the flexible option program a few months ago. It's designed to allow students to earn college credit by demonstrating knowledge they've gained through courses, military and job training, and other learning experiences. UW system faculty and administrators have been working on some of the details of Flexible Options, including how to assess a student's knowledge. Barb Daley is an interim dean of nursing at the UW-Milwaukee. She says RN's trying to enhance their skills could be tested various ways.

"Depending on the student coming in or coming back, so it could placement in a clinical facility, or it could be using a high-fidelity simulation lab that would simulate client care situations, whether acute care, long-term care, or home care, in a lab setting," she says.

UW-Milwaukee and the two-year UW Colleges will offer the first degree or certificate programs under Flexible Option, beginning next fall, with other campuses joining the program a year later. UW System President Kevin Reilly says tuition cost remains an unknown, but could be lower than for regular students, if the Options students just need assessments.

"What students will need to pay will depend an awful lot on what they come to the degree with, so the tuition will be pegged individually to individual students," he says.

Reilly says the UW Board of Regents will set the tuition rate over the next few months.